


The Bonds That Keep Us Going

by arainynightmarestudent



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, Childhood Friends, During Canon, Episode Ignis Verse 2, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Final Fantasy XV - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, Kinda, OC!Glaive, Post-Canon, Pre-Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Slow Burn, just the right amount of trauma, noct is probably a demi so we have to play the long game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:08:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25535620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arainynightmarestudent/pseuds/arainynightmarestudent
Summary: Through decades of Lucian chaos, who could've predicted that the future King of Light would've found the love of his life from an accidental meeting as kids. Follow Liviana Scleris' journey alongside Noctis and his retinue from their days in the Citadel gardens to the darkest days of Eos' history.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	The Bonds That Keep Us Going

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my first post on AO3 and this is purely self-indulgent. Writing in the mind of an eight-year-old is harder than I would've thought so go easy on me, please. This story is going to be one hell of a journey so I hope you all enjoy the first chapter. :)

As much as she always begged her mother to take her to work with her, the young Liviana squatted down on the floor with regret. The Council Members seemed to bicker back and forth for ages as the eight year old sat reading her fairy tale book for the fourth time. What should have been a tour of the Citadel, turned into her waiting for her mother to be ready to take her home. She wasn’t angry per say, it wasn’t hard to see that it was tense since the King came back from Tenebrae so unexpectedly. But, Six, she was bored.

Liviana looked at the guards on the far corner of the hallway to make sure they were distracted enough to make her escape. 

_I can explore on my own_ , she thought before quietly sprinting down the halls. Throughout the winding black marble, the other guards that she passed by didn’t seem to mind her skipping through unattended. Though she still couldn’t find the fun she was looking for, nothing but locked doors and expensive things. With a huff, the girl clutched the straps of her dark purple backpack.

“This sucks.”, she muttered in a pout. 

Her self pitying interrupted by the sound of a dog barking. In shock, she stopped in her tracks and listened again, just to see if she was imagining it. Sure enough, she heard it again and immediately ran to go investigate, without a proper idea of where she was going. She’d wait for the barks to start back up before following her intuition, the hunt for this mysterious dog has been the most interesting part of today. That was until she followed the sounds to the palace’s ornate gardens, where she saw a young boy in a wheelchair petting the small black and white dog. She hid behind the pillar to study him. 

_Black hair, blue eyes. It must be the prince!_ , she thought in excitement. But her heart sank a little when she noticed the seldom look on his face. For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why a prince, a boy who could have anything he wanted, could look so sad. Undeterred by her curiosity she marched into the garden entrance. 

“You must be the Prince! Prince Noctis!”, she shouted, startling both boy and dog.

“Uh...Uh-huh.”, he responded nervously.

“I figured, you look just like the King.”

“Who are-”

“Can I pet your dog?”

Prince Noctis nodded, though Liviana failed to wait for a response and hugged the canine anyway. The puppy eagerly licked her and accepted all the love she was giving, making her giggle.

“Mom never told me that the Prince had a puppy. What’s his name?”

“H-his name is Umbra. But he’s not my dog though.”

“He’s not?”

“Well kinda. It’s my friend Luna’s dog, from Tenebrae.”, Noctis explained while trying to scooch his chair closer to the pair.

“From Tenebrae? You mean Princess Lunafreya?”

“Mmhm.”

“Does that mean she’s here too?”

“No… she’s stuck there now.”, he said with a look of hurt washing over his face. 

“Oh no, I hope she’s okay.”, sensing the worry in the little girl, Umbra whimpered and nestled into her for reassurance. 

“She is. That’s why Umbra is here. She sent a letter in-in her book.” he pointed to the red leather notebook attached to the dog’s skinny green sash. Ana eyed the book before opening and inspecting it. There had only been a sticker attached to the eloquent penmanship on the middle of the page:

_All is well, Prince Noctis. I trust you will continue to recover. I happily await the next time I hear from you._

_~Luna_

“Wait… the puppy carried the notebook all the way here? But it’s so far! How would he have done it?”

“I’m not sure. I know Umbra is a magical dog though. Luna told me.”

“I’ve always wanted a dog. Especially a magical one, but mom said we wouldn’t have time for a dog.”, she frowned as she continued to pet the dog.

“What does your mom do?”

“She’s a Councilwoman. There’s actually in a meeting right now. She wasn’t supposed to work today but, since Tenebrae...”

“I get that. My dad has been pretty busy since we got back.”

“I guess that means they’re really busy… but that means we can play together!”, Ana shot up.

“I-I… don’t know.”, Noctis looked nervously at his wheelchair.

“You can’t walk at all?”

“I can. It just still hurts a lot. I haven’t really tried since I was in Tenebrae.”

The little girl rummaged through her backpack on the floor. Just because they couldn’t run around doesn’t mean they couldn’t still have fun. She brought out her notebook.

“We can do a sit-down game! Like Pictionary or tic tac toe.”

“Oh… okay.”

“I’m Liviana by the way. It’s nice to meet you.”, she stood up and extended a hand for him to shake.

“Liviana, I’m… well, you already know who I am.”, he chuckled nervously. 

She never could’ve imagined the Prince being so shy. It must have been tough in this giant palace all alone, no other kids around. But thankfully he started to perk up when they started to build paper airplanes with spare notebook pages and race them. The dog would chase after and bite them down, and pretty soon the tiny section of the gardens was filled with slobbered crumpled up paper planes. The more they thought up new games, the sadder she got knowing that this would probably be one of the only times she got to see him. She would’ve known if they were in the same school, he’d be hard to miss. 

“Liviana, are you bothering His Highness?”

The children turned to the approaching voice of her mother and King Regis, who towered above them with a warm smile.

“Sorry mom I got bored.”, she stood up in a hurry and bowed her head to the King.

“She wasn’t bothering me we were having fun.”, Noctis retorted surrounded by the hoard of paper imaginings between the two of them. 

“You were supposed to wait for me outside the Council Room, not wander off.”, her mother scolded. 

“It’s alright Camilla they’re enjoying themselves. It’s nice to see you again Liviana, you’ve done much growing since I last saw you.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”, she smiled brightly. 

“Well come on little one. Get your things, it’s almost dinner time.”

“Can’t I have five more minutes with the Prince.”, she looked back at her new friend while she gathered her mess of things. 

“They’ve had a long trip, Liv. The prince must be exhausted.”, her mom answered, making Liviana pout as she slumped her packed bag over her shoulders.

“Dad, can she come over tomorrow? After school?”

“Can I Mom?!”, she squealed a new prospect.

The reluctant Councilwoman looked over to the King who gave a hearty chuckle.

“I don’t see why not. I will tell the guards to expect you.”

“Yay!”, she exclaimed as she leaped in excitement. 

“Thank you, Your Majesty. You’re too kind.”

“The Citadel is too high strung, it’s nice having children around to liven it up.”

“Come Liv, it’s getting late now.”

She took the hand of her mother leading her away from the boy and his obedient dog, but not without saying goodbye. 

“See you tomorrow, Prince Noctis!”, she waved back to a grinning Noctis and King Regis. 

“Bye Liviana.”

Her mother spent the rest of the trip back home scolding her for roaming the Citadel by herself but Liviana was already plotting what she could with the young prince tomorrow. The tour of the palace might’ve been a bust but she never would’ve thought that she would’ve made a new friend today. Especially not Prince Noctis. It turned out to be a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments?? Questions? Please let me know, I'd love to get better with writing. Thanks for reading!! :)


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